The immune system protects the body against invasion by foreign environmental agents such as microorganisms or their products, foods, chemicals, drugs, molds, pollen, animal hair or dander, etc. The ability of the immune system to protect the body against such foreign invaders may be innate or acquired.
The acquired immune response, which stems from exposure to the foreign invader, is extremely complex and involves numerous types of cells that interact with one another in myriad ways to express the full range of immune response. Two of these cell types come from a common lymphoid precursor cell but differentiate along different developmental lines. One line matures in the thymus (T-cells); the other line matures in the bone marrow (B-cells). Although T- and B-cells differ in many functional respects, they share one of the important properties of the immune response: they both exhibit specificity towards a foreign invader (antigen). Thus, the major recognition and reaction functions of the immune response are contained within the lymph cells.
A third cell type that participates in the acquired immune response is the class of cells referred to as antigen-presenting cells (APC). Unlike the T- and B-cells, the APC do not have antigen-specificity. However, they play an important role in processing and presenting the antigen to the T-cells.
While the T- and B-cells are both involved in acquired immunity, they have different functions. Both T- and B-cells have antigen-specific receptors on their surfaces that, when bound by the antigen, activate the cells to release various products. In the case of B-cells, the surface receptors are immunoglobulins and the products released by the activated B-cells are immunoglobulins that have the same specificity for the antigen as the surface receptor immunoglobulins. In the case of activated T-cells, the products released are not the same as their surface receptor immunoglobulins, but are instead other molecules, called cytokines, that affect other cells and participate in the elimination of the antigen. One such cytokine, released by a class of T-cells called helper T-cells, is interleukin-4 (IL-4).
The immunoglobulins produced and released by B-cells must bind to a vast array of foreign invaders (antigens). All immunoglobulins share certain common structural features that enable them to: (1) recognize and bind specifically to a unique structural feature on an antigen (termed an epitope); and (2) perform a common biological function after binding the antigen. Basically, each immunoglobulin consists of two identical light (L) chains and two identical heavy (H) chains. The H chains are linked together via disulfide bridges. The portion of the immunoglobulin that binds the antigen includes the amino-terminal regions of both L and H chains. There are five major classes of H chains, termed α, δ, ε, γ and μ, providing five different isotypes of immunoglobulins: IgA, IgD, IgE, IgG and IgM. Although all five classes of immunoglobulins may possess precisely the same specificity for an antigen, they all have different biological functions.
While the immune system provides tremendous benefits in protecting the body against foreign invaders, particularly those that cause infectious diseases, its effects are sometimes damaging. For example, in the process of eliminating an invading foreign substance some tissue damage may occur, typically as a result of the accumulation of immunoglobulins with non-specific effects. Such damage is generally temporary, ceasing once the foreign invader has been eliminated. However, there are instances, such as in the case of hypersensitivity or allergic reactions, where the immune response directed against even innocuous agents such as inhaled pollen, inhaled mold spores, insect bite products, medications and even foods, is so powerful that it results in severe pathological consequences or symptoms.
Such hypersensitivity or allergic reactions are divided into four classes, designated types I–IV. The symptoms of the type I allergic reactions, called anaphylactic reactions or anaphylaxis, include the common symptoms associated with mild allergies, such as runny nose, watery eyes, etc., as well as the more dangerous, and often fatal, symptoms of difficulty in breathing (asthma), asphyxiation (typically due to constriction of smooth muscle around the bronchi in the lungs) and a sharp drop in blood pressure. Also included within the class of type I allergic reactions are atopic reactions, including atopic dermatitis, atopic eczema and atopic asthma.
Even when not lethal, such anaphylactic allergic reactions produce symptoms that interfere with the enjoyment of normal life. One need only witness the inability of an allergy sufferer to mow the lawn or hike through the woods to understand the disruptive force even mild allergies have on everyday life. Thus, while the immune system is quite beneficial, it would be desirable to be able to interrupt its response to invading foreign agents that pose no risk or threat to the body.
IgE immunoglobulins are crucial immune mediators of such anaphylactic hypersensitivity and allergic reactions, and have been shown to be responsible for the induction and maintenance of anaphylactic allergic symptoms. For example, anti-IgE antibodies have been shown to interfere with IgE function and alleviate allergic symptoms (Jardieu, 1995, Curr. Op. Immunol. 7:779–782; Shields et al., 1995, Int. Arch. Allergy Immunol. 107:308–312). Thus, release and/or accumulation of IgE immunoglobulins are believed to play a crucial role in the anaphylactic allergic response to innocuous foreign invaders. Other diseases associated with or mediated by IgE production and/or accumulation include, but are not limited to, allergic rhinitis, allergic conjunctivitis, systemic mastocytosis, hyper IgE syndrome, IgE gammopathies and B-cell lymphoma.
Although IgEs are produced and released by B-cells, the cells must be activated to do so (B-cells initially produce only IgD and IgM). The isotype switching of B-cells to produce IgE is a complex process that involves the replacement of certain immunoglobulin constant (C) regions with other C regions that have biologically distinct effector functions, without altering the specificity of the immunoglobulin. For IgE switching, a deletional rearrangement of the IgH chain gene locus occurs, which results in the joining of the switch region of the μ gene, Sμ, with the corresponding region of the ε gene, Sε.
This IgE switching is induced in part by IL-4 (or IL-13) produced by T-cells. The IL-4 induction initiates transcription through the Sε region, resulting in the synthesis of germline (or “sterile”) ε transcripts (that is, transcripts of the unrearranged Cε H genes) that lead to the production of IgE instead of IgM.
IL-4 induced germline ε transcription and consequent synthesis of IgE is inhibited by interferon gamma (IFN-γ), interferon alpha (IFN-α) and tumor growth factor beta (TGF-β). In addition to the IL-4 signal, a second signal, also normally delivered by T-cells, is required for switch recombination leading to the production of IgE. This second T-cell signal may be replaced by monoclonal antibodies to CD40, infection by Epstein-Barr virus or hydrocortisone.
Generally, traditional treatments for diseases mediated by IgE production and/or accumulation regulate the immune system following synthesis of IgE. For example, traditional therapies for the treatment of allergies include anti-histamines designed to modulate the IgE-mediated response resulting in mast cell degranulation. Drugs are also known that generally downregulate IgE production or that inhibit switching of, but not induction of, germline ε transcription (see, e.g., Loh et al., 1996, J. Allerg. Clin. Immunol. 97(5):1141).
Although these treatments are often effective, treatments that act to reduce or eliminate IgE production altogether would be desirable. By reducing or eliminating IgE production, the hypersensitivity or allergic response may be reduced or eliminated altogether. Accordingly, the availability of compounds that are upstream modulators of IgE production, such as compounds capable of modulating, and in particular inhibiting, IL-4 receptor-mediated germline ε transcription, would be highly desirable.
The ability to screen for compounds capable of modulating IgE production, and in particular compounds that modulate IL-4 (or IL-13) induced germline ε transcription typically involves screening candidate compounds in complex cell-based functional assays, such as the functional assays described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,958,707. These assays typically involve contacting a cell comprising a reporter gene operably linked to a promoter responsive to or inducible by IL-4 with a candidate compound of interest in the presence of IL-4 and assessing the amount of reporter gene product produced. The reporter gene is typically a gene that encodes a protein that produces an observable signal, such as a fluorescent protein. The IL-4 inducible promoter may be a germline ε promoter. Compounds that antagonize (inhibit) IL-4 induced transcription will yield reduced amounts of reporter gene product as compared to control cells contacted with IL-4 alone. Compounds that agonize IL-4 induced transcription will yield increased amounts of reporter gene product as compared to control cells contacted with IL-4 alone. Particularly useful functional assays for screening compounds for the ability to modulate IL-4 inducible germline ε transcription are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,958,707, WO 99/58663 and WO 01/34806.
Although such functional screening assays are quite powerful and effective, simpler assays that could be performed in cell-free systems and/or that do not require a functional component, such as simple binding assays with isolated proteins known to be involved in the IL-4 signaling cascade responsible for the production of germline ε transcripts, and hence the production of IgE, would be beneficial.